The Mungo park house was constructed by the Royal Niger Company (RNC) in 1886 and used as an administrative and a military house, named after Mungo Park who was born in 1771 in Foulshiels, Selkirk, Scotland and known for the discovery of river Niger.

The Mungo Park House which is now a national museum is located along Nnebisi Road, Asaba, Delta state Nigeria.

It’s in depleting form due to harsh weather conditions,but the house has rich history of the journey to civilization, events in the country as well as subsequently serving as secretariat to several government agencies.

The house is close to the Grand Hotel, Asaba, and is a definitely a place to visit.

Bayterek is a monument as well as an observation tower, located in the capital city of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana.

Making it one of the most popular attraction in the city for foreigners, as well as Kazakhs, it serves as a major symbol for the capital that took the title from Almaty in 1997.

Due to that fact, the tower is 97 meters (318 feet) in height, however including the base it comes to 105 meters (344 feet) high, and the unusual construction of the tower is more than just a unique artistic flourish.

There are 500 piles supporting the tower, where the weight exceeds 1,000 tonnes, and the tower ends with a large glass ball on the top.

The ball is 22 meters (72 feet) in diameter, weighting at almost 300 tonnes. Within the ball there is an elevator that is able to lift the visitors to the height of 86 meters (282 feet) to the panorama hall with specially alluring views of Astana.

Meant to embody a folktale about a mythical tree of life and a magic bird of happiness named Samruk, which has laid an egg in the crevice between two branches of a poplar tree.

There is an imprint of President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s hand at the top floor in the sphere as well as a set of signatures of the participants of the first Congress of World Religions held in Astana.

As the tower is quite important for the citizens of Kazakhstan, it can be found on the obverse side of all Kazakh banknotes (currency named Tenge), and with the combination of old and new makes it quite intriguing and inspiring for the tourists to reach the top and enjoy in the spectacular views Bayterek can offer.

Rice farmers, who are beneficiaries of the Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), have cried out over the destruction of their farmlands by flood.

The farmers, mainly from Lokoja, Ibaji and Ajaokuta Local Government areas of the state, said in Lokoja that they had suffered colossal losses on their rice farmlands due to flooding.

The VCDP is a Federal Government and International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD)-assisted project.

The Liaison Officer in Ibaji Local Government, Mr Achogu Fredrick, disclosed that about 216 rural farmers in the area, who benefitted from the IFAD-VCDP RPSF, had all lost their rice farmlands to flood.

According to him, each of the 216 farmers have one hectare of rice farmland, all totaling 216 hectares in Ibaji, all of which had been submerged.

”A total of 216 farmers, who benefitted from the RPSF grant, have lost everything to the flood. Indeed, it is a double tragedy for us.

”We did not only lose our farmlands but also, our houses and other property. The fear of what tomorrow holds for the farmers is what is in the heart of the people now.

”We are calling on the federal and state governments as well as other relevant organisations to come to our aid, because this is a colossal damage which cannot be easily repaired.

Infact, the entire Kogi VCDP farmers are in mourning mood now,” he said.

One of the beneficiaries, Mr Friday Ofor, expressed sadness over the sudden loss of their rice farms to flooding.

”We never expected this kind of great loss. It caught us unawares. We are appealing to relevant agencies to come to our aid,” Offor said.

Seidu Liman, youth and women farmers’ leaders in Kabawa and Magajiya clusters, described the situation as a great damage to them and their families.

Liman said that the effect of the loss on their rice farmlands would be huge on their wellbeing, after investing their time and resources.

He called on government to come to their aid by providing palliatives for immediate relief.

Maryam Abubakar, another women leader, said that the affected farmers in all the three local government areas lost their farmlands and other property.

Abubakar said that the flood had further exposed the farmers to more suffering than before.

Also, Dr Stella Adejoh, State Programme Coordinator of IFAD-VCDP, expressed sadness over the destruction of rice farms by flood.

She said that the farmers were provided grant in form of inputs, such as fertiliser, certified rice seed as well as selective and non-selective herbicides.

She said that about 614 rural farmers, cutting across the four rice producing local government areas of Lokoja, Ibaji, Ajaokuta and Kabba/Bunu, benefitted from the RPSF in the state.

According to her, it is regrettable that the vulnerable farmers have lost almost everything due to flooding, adding, ”I feel very sad and demoralised over the colossal loss.”

The Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, says it has developed maize, sorghum and other crops seed varieties that can withstand flooding.

The institute said the new seeds would resist flood menace for a period of time to cushion the effect of climate change on agricultural investments.

Prof. Mohammed Faguji, the Executive Director of IAR, made this known during an interview with newsmen in Zaria, Kaduna State, on Thursday, September 29, 2022.

Faguji noted that the flood and drought being experienced in several areas were evidence of scientific findings which confirms the effect of climate change to the environment.

The executive director, therefore, urged key stakeholders in the sector to put in place practical means of mitigating the effect of climate change.

He added that, going by the scientific prediction, the region may likely stay around with this kind of unfortunate natural disasters for a very long time to come.

“Even though flood occurs annually in Nigeria, this year it was extra-ordinary,’’ the executive director said.

He added that one of the measures adopted by the institute was the development of maize seed variety that can withstand flooding for a period of time.

“From maize we want to expand to sorghum and later in future we will look at how some other crops can be effectively produced under flooded situation.

“We have developed drought tolerant variety of maize and we have commenced the development of flood tolerant variety.

“The research is promising; we have identified some genotypes that would lead to developing good varieties,’’ he said.

According to him, the flood is so significant that it is estimated that over 30 per cent of agricultural investments in states such as Jigawa, Kogi, Kebbi and some parts of Kano and Bauchi will be lost.

“Therefore, this will naturally translate into shortage in the annual harvest of grains and other agricultural products which consequently results in shorter supply of food items to Nigerians.

“We all know the relationship between demand and supply theory; if the demand supersedes the supply as in this case.

“Our own internal supply of food items will be affected grossly as the result of the incidence and naturally we should expect rise in the prices of items.

“This rise in the price of food is different from the earlier ones which Nigerians were complaining against.”

He appealed for a carefully designed interventions towards ensuring that the food supply system maintains its natural equilibrium, urging government to encourage farmers to farm against next year and any part of this season.

The executive director said there were people who were anxiously waiting and advocating for the importation of food uncontrollably into the country, pointing out that “such importation which is completely not in our interest’’.

Heowever, he said the food importation, if necessary, must be controlled.

Planting forests in dry lands all over the world is unlikely to help in the fight against global warming and climate change, according to Israeli research that cast a question mark over massive tree planting projects being undertaken by countries such as China.

Trees absorb carbon dioxide when they photosynthesize to make food (sugars), and by removing the gas from the atmosphere, they contribute to atmospheric cooling. They also cool the climate by increasing evaporation (in much the same way as animals sweat to cool down) and contributing to cloud formation.

But they can also create heat because of a phenomenon called the albedo effect.

In cases of high albedo, light-colored surfaces, such as rocks and sand — as well as white clothing — bounce a big chunk of the sun’s rays back to the atmosphere. By contrast, dark surfaces, such as forests, absorb the sun’s rays and then radiate heat.

The albedo effect is one reason why the poles are heating up so quickly — high-albedo snow and ice are being replaced by low-albedo (dark-colored) water and exposed tundra.

While research has been carried out on the albedo effect of boreal forests (also known as taiga), whose birch, poplar and conifer trees wrap around the northern hemisphere south of the Arctic, the new research by the Weizmann Institute and the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology, published in the latest issue of Science, focuses on drylands, which cover 40 percent of the earth’s surface.